KAPA‘A — Kapa‘a High School and Waimea High School girls volleyball programs on the varsity level were both winners in four sets, Friday as the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation hosted games at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a, and at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
At Waimea High School, the Island School Voyagers split their series when the Junior Varsity was a 3-0 winner over the JV Menehune, 25-23, 27-25, and 25-18.
The varsity Voyagers took the second set 25-20 following its opening loss, 10-25 to force the fourth set play.
Waimea answered the challenge by taking the third and fourth sets, 25-20 and 25-14.
Over at the Bernice Hundley, the JV Lady Warriors swept the JV Red Raiders in straight sets, 25-13, 25-18, and 25-6.
“We’re just playing volleyball,” said Kapa‘a JV Coach Mai’lika Napoleon. “The girls love volleyball, and they’re having fun.”
On the varsity courts, the varsity Red Raiders knocked at the door, but could not shut it, taking the first set, 25-21 before the Lady Warriors came back and sealed the deal, 25-15, 25-23, and 25-22.
Kaua‘i broke away from a 5-5 deadlock when Edyn Naka‘ahiki served up six unanswered points that included an ace, and reinforcing whacks from Aubrey Bechard who did a lot of communicating on the floor, and a Naka‘ahiki slap that had the Raiders up by six points.
Kapa‘a, looking at a 17-24 deficit, coughed up a string of points on Raider miscues, including a service error that gave the side to Kapa‘a, passing and hitting errors, and a net violation. But the deficit fell to four as the Warriors gave the set up on a hitting error.
Rebounding in the second set, Kapa‘a quickly built up a 7-1 bulge with Olivia Malafu in the service box, generating an ace as well as supporting whacks from Norma Tuulangavalu in the middle and Olivia Jenkins. Kaua‘i could not catch up before Kailee Baltazar in the service block sealed the deal on four straight points that had hammers from Sierra Summer and Kanoe Haneberg.
The Raiders played catch up from their first set win, and got a taste of the lead in the third set when an Elise Yukimura hammer pulled Kaua‘i ahead, 13-12. A Kapa‘a net violation kept Kaua‘i up, 14-13 until Kapa‘a’s Jenkins’ back-to-back whacks moved the Warriors ahead, 15-14. The seesaw continued until a Raider hitting error and a Kapa‘a bang from Kyla Hopton sealed the deal, 25-23.
The Lady Warriors looked at a 16-22 deficit in the fourth set before Jenkins erupted for nine straight points from the service block to seal the night, 25-22 behind three whacks from Haneberg, a hit from Tuulangavalu, and Raider hitting errors.
Girls volleyball enters the Round 1 home stretch starting Tuesday when Waimea meets Kaua‘i at the Kaua‘i High School gym, and the Lady Warriors travel to the Wilcox Gymnasium at Island School to take on the Voyagers. The JV games at both sites start at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity contests starting 25 minutes after the JV games are completed.
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